"After one minute I hear boom, boom, boom, then I awake," neighbor Mai Nguyn said.
Nguyn woke to the sound of gunshots after midnight. They were coming from the triplex next door on Cleveland Ave. Before the shots she heard a woman cursing loudly.
"I hear only the woman's voice, like lady, yelling and using bad words," she said. "I have the kids so I don't want to repeat it."
Deputies responded around 12:20 a.m. to a report of suspicious circumstances and a possible burglary at the triplex in the first block of Cleveland Ave.
Pictures provided by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department shows deputies responding to reports of breaking glass and pounding at the triplex. But moments after getting out of their patrol cars, officials say they were confronted by a woman in the driveway holding a knife.
"Confrontation ensues, deputies order the female to drop weapon, she refused to drop the weapon, at least one deputy fired their weapon, the female was struck," Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesperson Kurtis Stenderup said.
The woman died at the scene. Stunned neighbors believe she had lived at the triplex for years.
"I just know she was a very nice lady," neighbor Nick Heren said.
He says she'd been upset recently.
"She said somebody was stealing from her," Heren said.
Another neighbor who did not want to go on camera wonders why the confrontation turned deadly.
"If it's the police that did it, then they could have used other force," she said.
Crime scene investigators are combing every inch of the triplex. The investigation continues.
The deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved death.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to call the sheriff's office at (408) 808-4431.
(Bay City News contributed to this report)
